Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have no desire to hold up the appointment of a new member of GSOC. We wish Mr. Sullivan well but we have questions about the process. My understanding is that the Dáil previously approved a previous appointment without debate on the basis of a widespread agreement on the appointee. We have some concerns about the process employed here, specifically as it relates to the Houses of the Oireachtas. I only learned this evening that this went through the Public Appointments Service, PAS. This is the first time Members have had a sense of the CV of the proposed appointee.

One could argue that we found ourselves in an invidious position where we had no view on the appointee because we did not have an opportunity to form one until this evening, when the Minister gave us an outline of the credentials of the person to be appointed. What is the point of asking us to approve a person to be appointed by the President if there has not been any formal or iterative process with regard to that person's credentials? The process this evening is effectively a set-piece event, without questions and answers or a chance to interrogate further the person's credentials. We do not doubt the person's bona fides and we wish him well. He went through the PAS but we believe it might have been more appropriate if, for example, the justice committee could have had a process for an engagement with the Minister on the appointment.

The legislation provides that GSOC is to consist of three members, all of whom are to be appointed by the President on the nomination of the Government and the passing of resolutions by Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann recommending their appointment.

PAS has interviewed the person and Cabinet has given the formal nod. Now we find ourselves in the position tonight where at the last minute the Oireachtas is expected to ratify this on the basis of the Minister's say so.

I do not want to doubt the bona fides of the person, who has been through a process, but the Government needs to change the procedure to ensure that this House, through one of its committees - the most appropriate being the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality - would have an opportunity to have some sort of interaction as opposed to going through this set piece. It should be an iterative process involving some interrogation of the process and of the person's bona fides. I find myself very curious about the bona fides of the person in question. It is genuine human curiosity given his background. I have further questions which I will not articulate tonight. I believe the process needs to be more robust and needs to have better regard to the Houses of the Oireachtas. That might involve a slight amendment to the 2005 Act.

In his speech the Minister made specific reference to the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland. We all look forward to getting that report in September. We all made submissions to the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland. If we are to look at GSOC specifically, we endorse last December's publication in its proposals for legislative change and we accept the thrust of its 2016 report on Garda oversight and accountability.

We stated that the commission should have regard to the legal advice to the previous Government that under the Constitution, policing belongs inherently to the Executive branch of Government. We were told that the powers of any independent policing authority would have to be delimited. With respect, the argument that the Constitution requires the Government to directly control policing needs careful consideration. We are hopeful that the report will address that concern. The Constitution makes no reference, even in passing, to policing. How the system in other states operates is well articulated. Even in those states with a common law tradition there is a view that policing could be more devolved and under more democratic control.

I share in the endorsement, if only to go through a formal process. It is a bit strange to be standing here supporting the Government in ratifying somebody for appointment to GSOC on the basis of a recommendation made by the Public Appointments Service when we have only just learnt about the bona fides of the person in question. I ask that we review the process for the future so that Oireachtas Members can have more of an interaction with the Government on the basis of the recommendation made to it.

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